Publication Ethics
1. Introduction and Policy Ownership
Jurnal Moderasi: The Journal of Ushuluddin, Islamic Thought, and Muslim Societies is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Faculty of Ushuluddin and Islamic Thought, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta. The journal publishes research in the fields of religious moderation, diversity, and peacebuilding; Islamic thought and textual traditions; religious minorities, gender, and indigenous spiritual traditions; Living Islam and contemporary issues in Islam; as well as digital religion and Muslim popular culture.
This Publication Ethics and Editorial Integrity Policy serves as an operational guideline for the journal in managing all stages of the scholarly publication process. The policy establishes principles, standards, responsibilities, and procedures that serve as references for authors, editors, reviewers, editorial staff, editorial board members, and the publisher. Its implementation aims to ensure academic integrity, safeguard editorial independence, enhance transparency, promote fairness in the publication process, and strengthen accountability throughout all stages of publication.
2. Editorial Independence and Decision-Making
Editorial decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial team based on scientific quality, the journal’s scope and relevance, originality, methodology, ethical compliance, and the outcomes of the peer-review process.
The publisher and the managing institution support the journal’s operations without interfering with decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts. All editorial decisions must remain free from external pressure, personal interests, author identity, institutional affiliation, or other non-academic considerations.
The journal applies the principle of equal treatment by processing all manuscripts through the same editorial procedures, except for special issues or invited articles that are explicitly identified as such.
3. Responsibilities of Authors
Authors are responsible for submitting manuscripts that are original, accurate, ethical, and not under consideration by another journal. All authors must approve the submission, obtain necessary permissions, and provide appropriate acknowledgment and citations for all sources and materials used.
Authors must present data, methods, analyses, and conclusions honestly and must avoid data fabrication, citation manipulation, duplicate submission, or the use of materials without proper attribution. Authors are also expected to respond professionally to editorial feedback, make necessary revisions, and report any substantial errors discovered after publication.
4. Authorship and Contributions
Authorship is granted only to individuals who have made significant intellectual contributions and who are accountable for the integrity of the work. Contributions may include formulating ideas, developing arguments, collecting and analyzing data, conducting fieldwork, interpreting findings, drafting or substantially revising the manuscript, and approving the final version of the article.
The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the authorship list, obtaining approval from all authors, and preventing unethical authorship practices such as honorary, guest, gift, or coercive authorship. Any changes to the authorship list or author order after submission must be accompanied by a clear justification and written approval from all relevant authors.
5. Originality, Plagiarism, and Citation Ethics
Each manuscript must constitute an original scholarly work that has not been previously published. Authors are required to provide proper attribution for ideas, texts, data, translations, images, and findings belonging to others. Plagiarism, unattributed paraphrasing, translation without acknowledgment, or the reuse of previous works without disclosure constitute violations of publication ethics.
The journal conducts similarity checks and editorial evaluations to safeguard academic integrity. The results of these assessments are evaluated based on the context and degree of similarity, and manuscripts may be returned, rejected, or further investigated as potential ethical violations.
Citations must be accurate, relevant, and contribute to the advancement of scholarship. The journal does not accept fabricated references, citation manipulation, coercive citation practices, irrelevant self-citation, or the omission of significant scholarly works. Recommendations for adding references by editors or reviewers must be based on legitimate academic considerations.
6. Research Ethics and Respect for Religious, Cultural, and Manuscript Materials
Research published in this journal may examine various phenomena, practices, texts, traditions, communities, institutions, digital spaces, cultural artifacts, and socio-religious dynamics related to religious moderation, diversity, Islamic thought, textual traditions, religious minorities, gender, local spiritual traditions, living Islam, contemporary Islamic issues, digital religion, and Muslim popular culture. Studies may be conducted in diverse contexts using interdisciplinary approaches within the fields of religious studies and Muslim societies.
Authors must treat research participants, communities, and sources ethically by safeguarding dignity, privacy, confidentiality, and obtaining necessary consent. Research must be conducted with cultural sensitivity, respect access rights to sources, and avoid practices that may cause harm, stigma, coercion, or misrepresentation.
Where formal ethical approval is required by an institution or research context, authors must provide relevant information. When formal approval is not required, authors must still explain the ethical considerations and measures applied in managing data, participants, communities, and sensitive cultural sources.
7. Data, Sources, and Research Materials
Where ethically, legally, and practically possible, authors are encouraged to provide relevant supporting materials to enhance research transparency, such as research instruments, supporting data, anonymized field notes, archival sources, analytical tables, images, appendices, or other digital files.
Authors are not required to share materials that violate privacy, copyright, intellectual property rights, archival agreements, community confidentiality, sacred values, cultural sensitivities, or legal provisions. If materials cannot be made publicly available, authors should provide a clear explanation in the manuscript or data availability statement.
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of all sources and information used, including quotations, translations, transliterations, references, archival identifications, and source descriptions. Any translation choices that affect the research argument must be explained, including whether the translation was produced by the author or obtained from another source.
8. Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies
This journal permits the limited use of generative AI to support academic work, such as language editing, transcription, reference management, or data organization. However, authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content contained in the manuscript.
AI tools cannot be listed as authors or contributors. Authors are prohibited from using AI to generate or manipulate data, references, citations, sources, or scholarly arguments in ways that cannot be properly verified and justified. Substantial use of AI in drafting, translation, analysis, table creation, image generation, or other manuscript content must be transparently disclosed. The use of basic tools for grammar checking, spelling correction, and formatting does not require disclosure unless such use results in significant changes to the scholarly content.
9. Peer Review and Editorial Decisions
The journal applies a double-blind peer-review system, unless otherwise specified for particular submission types. The identities of authors and reviewers remain confidential throughout the review process whenever possible.
Each submission undergoes an initial editorial assessment, including scope, ethical compliance, and originality screening, before being assigned to expert reviewers. Manuscripts that fail to meet the journal’s basic scholarly or ethical standards may be rejected prior to external review.
Editorial decisions include acceptance, minor revision, major revision, rejection, or withdrawal for ethical or procedural reasons. Requests for revision do not imply eventual acceptance. Final publication decisions rest with the editor, who evaluates reviewer recommendations alongside the manuscript’s academic quality, ethical integrity, and overall contribution.
10. Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of interest arise when financial, professional, institutional, personal, ideological, or other relationships may influence the objectivity of the publication process.
Authors are required to disclose any relevant funding sources, sponsorships, institutional affiliations, financial interests, or personal and professional relationships related to the submitted work. Editors and reviewers must likewise declare potential conflicts and recuse themselves whenever impartial evaluation cannot be ensured.
The disclosure of a conflict does not automatically preclude review or publication. The Editor-in-Chief will determine the appropriate course of action, including managing the conflict, appointing alternative editors or reviewers, or declining to proceed when an impartial evaluation cannot be achieved.
11. Complaints and Appeals
The journal welcomes complaints and appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer review, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, citation or peer-review manipulation, factual errors, and other publication-related matters.
Complaints or appeals should be submitted to the Editorial Office via jurnalmoderasi@uin-suka.ac.id and include a clear description of the issue, supporting evidence, and relevant documentation. Appeals against editorial decisions must demonstrate a procedural error, factual misunderstanding, conflict of interest, or other substantial grounds. Mere disagreement with editorial judgment is not sufficient for reconsideration.
All submissions will be reviewed fairly, confidentially, and impartially. Where appropriate, the journal may consult members of the Editorial Board or the publisher before reaching a final decision.
12. Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Updates
The journal is committed to preserving the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record. When errors or ethical concerns are identified after publication, the editorial team will evaluate their significance and determine the most appropriate corrective action.
Possible post-publication actions include:
- Minor Updates — Technical or typographical corrections that do not affect the scholarly content may be incorporated directly into the published record without a separate notice.
- Retractions — Published when an article is found to be unreliable, unethical, or seriously flawed due to misconduct or major errors. Retracted articles remain part of the scholarly record and are clearly identified as retracted.
- Article Removal or Replacement — Undertaken only in exceptional circumstances, including legal obligations, copyright violations, serious privacy breaches, or content posing significant harm. Where feasible, a public notice explaining the action will remain available.
All post-publication notices will be permanently linked to the affected article and will clearly identify the nature of the update, the reason for the action, and the date of publication. The journal will also make reasonable efforts to ensure that indexing and abstracting services are notified of significant post-publication changes.
Authors are expected to notify the Editorial Office promptly upon discovering significant errors or ethical issues in their published work and to cooperate fully in any necessary corrections, clarifications, or retractions. Where authors disagree on the appropriate action, the Editor-in-Chief may proceed on the basis of available evidence to safeguard the integrity of the scholarly record.
13. Publisher Responsibilities and Website Transparency
The Faculty of Ushuluddin and Islamic Thought, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, as the publisher, supports the journal’s editorial independence, publication infrastructure, and long-term preservation of the scholarly record. Editorial decisions remain the sole responsibility of the editorial team.
The publisher is committed to maintaining a transparent, accessible, and reliable journal website by providing accurate information on the journal’s aims and scope, editorial board, submission procedures, peer-review process, publication ethics, AI policy, copyright, open access, publication fees, archiving, and contact details. Website content and links are reviewed periodically to ensure their accuracy, consistency, and accessibility.
14. Policy Review and Contact
This Publication Ethics Policy is subject to periodic review to ensure alignment with evolving publication standards, ethical guidance, indexing requirements, and best scholarly practices. Significant revisions require approval by the Editor-in-Chief and, where appropriate, consultation with the Editorial Board and the publisher.
Questions, complaints, appeals, or other publication ethics matters should be directed to:
Editorial Office
Jurnal Moderasi: The Journal of Ushuluddin, Islamic Thought, and Muslim Societies
Faculty of Ushuluddin and Islamic Thought
Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta
Email: jurnalmoderasi@uin-suka.ac.id
Policy approved by: Editorial Board of Jurnal Moderasi: The Journal of Ushuluddin, Islamic Thought, and Muslim Societies
Approval date: 16 July 2026
Last updated: 16 July 2026
